Op-ed in official PA daily claims Israel and the US were behind deadly terror attack in Egypt

Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida
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Nov. 26, 2017

Excerpt of an op-ed by Omar Hilmi Al-Ghoul, regular columnist for the official PA daily

Headline: “Yes to Egypt, down with terror”
“The Takfir (i.e., the act of accusing other Muslims of heresy) terror struck again, [this time] at a mosque in the Al-Rawda area east of Bir Al-Abd in the northern Sinai district, and claimed over 300 Martyrs (Shahids) and 130 wounded (see note below –Ed.). This is a shocking and bloody massacre that was committed by savages against innocent civilians as they prayed the Friday prayers – as if they wanted to reenact the massacre at the Ibrahimi Mosque (i.e., the Cave of the Patriarchs) that was committed by Zionist settler Baruch Goldstein on Feb. 25, 1994, in which 29 Martyrs died and 150 wounded (sic., 125, see note below)…
Time will tell, after the investigations expose the secrets, divergences, and scope of the barbaric crime, because the one who stands behind it – regardless of the name of the organization to which he belongs, and regardless of the pretexts he promoted for his horrible crime – is Israel and the US. [My] intention is not to absolve the Takfir organizations of blame because they are the cheap and cowardly pawns for carrying out the most horrible acts of terror against defenseless civilians, in order to harm the honor and status of the government in Egypt…
All of Egypt, and not just the city of Bir Al-Abd, experienced a black Friday. This is because the painful and barbaric disaster targets the big sister (i.e., Egypt), and seeks to harm it and systematically destroy it. They do not want Egypt – the symbol of Arabness – to rise, recover, and restore to itself its leading pan-Arab role. The US, Israel, and their pawns know well that the resurrection of Egypt means the resurrection of all the peoples of the Arab nation, and therefore the colonial need dictates keeping Egypt in a state of political, security, economic, and social exhaustion…
There is an American-Israeli decision – which is being implemented by their pawns, starting with the Muslim Brotherhood organization and ending with the last of the Takfir organizations – and that is to continue weakening Egypt, at least, particularly because the main goal of their plan is to tear unified Egypt into small and scattered states.”Click to view bulletin

A group of Muslim terrorists attacked the Al-Rawda Mosque in northern Sinai with grenades and guns on Nov. 24, 2017, and murdered at least 305 worshipers. ISIS is suspected of being behind the attack on the Sufi mosque, but it did not initially claim responsibility.

Cave of the Patriarchs massacre - On Feb. 25, 1994, Baruch Goldstein, a member of an Israeli far-right movement, opened fire on Muslims praying inside the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, known to Muslims as the "Ibrahimi Mosque," killing 29 and wounding 125. Following the attack, which was widely condemned by Israeli leaders and Jewish communities abroad, the Israeli government took concrete steps to prevent similar attacks from occurring by dividing the area of worship into Muslim and Jewish sections and designating several extremist movements, including Goldstein’s, as illegal terrorist groups.